Gadkari announces projects to clean up Ganga by curbing Kanpur pollution

PTI8_13_2018_000225B Nitin Gadkari flanked by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at a press conference in Kanpur | PTI

Pollution from Kanpur, the worst 'contributor' to the current condition of the Ganga river, is finally being tackled.

Minister for Water Resources, Rivers and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari inaugurated 20 restored ghats in Kappur and Bithoor on Monday and announced a slew of projects to tackle pollution at the two hotspots in Kanpur—Jajmau (industrial effluents) and Sisamau (domestic sewage).

Gadkari announced a 20mld common effluent treatment plant at a cost of Rs 554 crore in the first phase for Jajmau. He also said that the complete tapping of Sismau nala would be done by October. On average, 140mld untreated sewage has been drained into the river from this nalla on a daily basis. Over the last one year, 80mld was diverted to the treatment plant at Bingawan. The rest will be diverted too, by October.

Gadkari said that there was no shortage of funds for the purpose of Ganga cleaning. He, however, suggested that there should be ways of monetising the waste itself. One of Gadkari's favourite suggestions has been to generate methane from the sewage, which can be used as bio-CNG for running the city's transport system.

Pollution from Kanpur has been a big hurdle in the Ganga's clean-up. First, the Centre didn't get sufficient support from the previous Samajwadi Party government. Under the Yogi Adityanath government, these Centre-state issues have got resolved.

However, the quantum of pollution is so enormous in Kanpur and the layout of the city so complex that the task is mind-boggling. Authorities have, since months, been working at connecting the various tanneries to centralised effluent treatment plants, not an easy task given the haphazard way in which the industries have come up, with no plans or maps to refer to. Yet, once the Kanpur stretch gets treated, much of the pollution into the Ganga will be tackled.